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Orchids for Biggles/plot
Preface gives some background information about orchids. Chapter 1: The Orchid Man A scene-setting chapter. Flying the Gadfly, Biggles and Bertie arrive on the outskirts of Cruzuado, Peru. With some diffiuclty, they finally find the Villa Vanda, house of Peter Fotherham, an Englishman who has lived there for many years and collects orchids for export. Fotherham, also known as Don Pedro, introduces them to the locality. One worrying piece of news is that a Russian had arrived recently and is staying in town. Chapter 2: The Traitor The plot rolls back 10 days to the mission briefing by Air Commodore Raymond. Harald Neckel, a Rumanian scientist who became a naturalised British citizen, had been recruited and deplpyed in top secret defence research for some twelve years. By sheer brilliance, he had risen to become one of the top men in atomic research. Although he had ben watched closely for some years, the precautions had been relaxed as, year by year, he had proven to be trustworthy. Now he had absconded with some top secret defence documents. This is no ordinary espionage case: Neckel is motivated only by greed for money. He wants a million dollars or else he would sell them to another country. Neckel has planted himself in Cruzuado, Peru, a town at the tripoint frontier with Brazil and Bolivia. The British government has three weeks to comply. Time is pressing, so it looks like a job for aircraft and Biggles. Fortunately there's a local contact, a Briton named Peter Fotherman. Raymond arranges for him and Bertie to go to Peru under the cover of representing a firm interested in orchids. Chapter 3: Cruzuado With ponies lent by Fotherham, Biggles and Bertie depart for Cruzuado with José, Fotherham's foreman, acting as guide. The difficult journey through the jungle track is an opportunity for Johns to describe the local vegetation and wildlife, many of which are dangerous, in detail. They check into the Hotel Comisaria and then pay a call of Señor Vargas, the local admistrator. They establish good relations with him and with the Intendente, head of the local military police. Chapter 4: The Bar Francisco For three days Biggles and Bertie watch and listen at all the likely spots in town for a sign of Harald Neckel but learn nothing except to note that the Russian, named Bogosoff, seemed to be doing the same thing. Then Biggles sees José flirting with Dolores, the desk-clerk at the hotel. Over a beer, José tells Biggles that she had been asking him questions about them--where they came from and what they did. Some gringo paid her well to keep him informed about new arrivals. Sensing an opportunity, Biggles bribes Dolores through José. They learn that the gringo was one Luis Salvador. She collects his mail and they meet nightly at the Bar Francisco. Biggles and Bertie visit the bar. There is a man alone at another table--Neckel? Dolores soon joins this man and they go off. Bertie follows them out. Unfortunately, Bogosoff is also at the bar with a local Peruvian associate. They also leave after them. Biggles returns to the hotel. It gets late but Bertie does not come back. Chapter 5: The House in the Forest Bertie follows Salvador and Dolores to a house on the outskirts of town named Casa Floresta. Another woman, Maria, a dancer at the Bar Francisco, then shows up. A lover's quarrel breaks out. Maria angrily denounce Salvador for two-timing. Bertie leaves the scene but doesn't go far as he is knocked unconscious by someone. Chapter 6: Biggles Has a Fright In the early hours of the morning, the Intendente calls on Biggles. Dolores had found Bertie severely injured in a street at the end of town. He had been hit on the head and also robbed. Bertie is moved to the hotel room to rest. When he wakes, he and Biggles speculate as to who could have done it. Bogosoff and his associate? Or perhaps Maria had seen him when coming to the Casa Floresta and told Neckel who then sent his manservant to deal with the intruder. Biggles sends for José for help. Chapter 7: José Proves Useful Biggles visits the place where Bertie had been attacked but finds no clues. Passing the Bar Francisco, he looks up Maria but she denies any knowledge of the incident, even claiming she knows nothing about Luis Salvador. José arrives and Biggles asks him to question Dolores discreetly about what she knows. He's up to the challenge and soon returns with the information. Dolores apparently collects letters for a man named Neckel--Salvador had told her he's a friend. One had arrived today and she intends to take it to the Casa Floresta tonight. Chapter 8: Death Intervenes As night falls, Biggles takes up a position watching the path to the Casa Floresta. Dolores passes by as expected but then Biggles hears a gasp and sees a black draped figure run pass towards town. Dolores' body is on the ground--she has been stabbed and murdered. Turning over the body, Biggles finds a letter addressed to Neckel--it must be the one from the British government saying his demands were being considered. Biggles pockets the letter and decides he must report the incident. Back in town he calls on the Intendente and tells him what happened. He decides not to mention the letter, or to share his suspicion that it might be Maria who killed Dolores. Chapter 9: Bogosoff Shows His Hand The letter gives Biggles an excuse to visit the Casa Floresta so he can hand it to Salvador. On the way he meets José and tells him about Dolores. José is distraught as he liked her. He thinks it must be Maria, and swears he will kill Salvador for it. It's his fault, he says, the two girls were friends until he came in between. At the Casa Floresta, Biggles hands the letter but they are interrupted by a gunshot outside and then Bogosoff bursts in and demands the papers. At first, Salvador, now proven to be Neckel, claims he knows nothing but he is frightened by Bogosoff's death threats and agrees to fetch them. He is just saved from doing so when the Intendente arrives with a policeman. Carlo, Salvador's manservant is dead outside. Who is responsible? Bogosoff, caught with a gun in his hand, pushes past the policemen and makes a rush for the river bank with his associate and get away using Neckel's canoe. Chapter 10: Complications The Intendente and Senor Vargas comes to say they have arrested Maria for the murder of Dolores. Salvador had told them he believed it was she. Biggles says nothing but is appalled by Neckel's perfidy in betraying a girl he supposedly had a relationship with. Meanwhile there are complications: Neckel might get frightened about what happened and disappear. So Biggles sends Bertie to watch the Casa Floresta. He had to stay around in case the Intendente wanted to question him. He would also look around for José. His pony is still at the hotel but he has disappeared. Chapter 11: Bertie Makes a Blunder Near the Casa Floresta, Bertie decides to leave the track and get into the jungle in order to find a vantage point where he can see all the entrances of the house plus the jetty at the river. He gets caught in the thick undergrowth and now is the obligatory encounter with dangerous wildlife, in this case an anaconda. Fortunately, Bertie has a machete and he cuts the tail of the snake off, sending it crawling away. Biggles relieves Bertie who returns to the hotel for a rest. José's pony is gone. Chapter 12: Frustrated Bertie rejoins Biggles. Night falls but there is no light and no sign of movement in the Casa Floresta. Deciding to take the bull by the horns, they enter the house and discover Neckel on the floor. He has been killed by a machete. They suspect José but there's little time to lose. Biggles asks Bertie to keep watch outside and begins a search of the house. When Biggles was with Neckel earlier and Bogosoff had demanded the papers, he thought he saw the traitor's eyes drift to a painting on the wall. Biggles removes it but is disappointed to see only a bare wall behind. Somehow Bogosoff enters the house undetected and surprises Biggles. He draws his gun and orders Biggles to continue searching. Biggles plays for time, and sure enough, Bertie appears, gun in hand, behind Bogosoff. The Russian doesn't buy the "take a look behind you" ruse but Bertie announces his presence. As Bogosoff half turns, Biggles grabs the painting and smashes it on his head. They do not want a prisoner so they let Bogosoff go. No luck on finding the papers. Biggles wants to burn the house down but Bertie suggests they come back in the morning for a better search in daylight. Chapter 13: One Last Chance The next morning, at the Casa Floresta, they something strange. Neckel's body is still there, but the frame of the painting has been broken into pieces. "We've made the biggest boob we ever made in our lives," says Biggles. The papers were in the picture frame! Bogosoff must have waiting for them to go off and then come back for a further search. There is just one chance. Bogosoff must have escaped by the canoe he stole from Neckel earlier. He can only go downstream because the river is in flood. It is twenty miles to Puerto Vecho, the nearest point where he can get transport further downriver. Biggles and Bertie fetch their ponies from the hotel and tear through the jungle track back to Fotherham's house in record time and take off in the Gadfly. They soon spot Bogosoff and his associate in their canoe. Biggles does a low pass and then lands. By maneuvring the aircraft, he manages to capsize the boat. Biggles orders Bogosoff to hand over the papers or else he would not pick them up. Bogosoff complies. After landing Bogosoff and his associate on the river bank, they fly back to the Villa Vanda. They explain everything to Fotherham and thank him for his help. Of José, they decide to say nothing. They only had suspicions, not proof. And he had been helpful to them. Back in London, Biggles tells Raymond he had no time to pick orchids for him. But the boss tells him the papers are all the flowers he needs. Category:Plot summaries